Christie’s Hong Kong Spring sale will showcase works by some of the most renowned 19th and 20th Century masters such as Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, Fu Baoshi, Zhang Daqian, Lin Fengmian, Gao Jianfu, Gao Qifeng.
Xu Beihong is widely recognized as the father of modern Chinese painting, both for his innovative ink works that did much to revitalize the traditional Chinese form and for his willingness to embrace Western techniques, particularly French Realism. He’s most famous for his portrayal of horses in movement. If you want to know more about this artist I wrote this story this story for the IHT a couple of years ago.
The sale will present a selection of Zhang Daqian’s oeuvre, taking collectors through a journey of the artist’s various important landmarks. Starting with his famous lady figures Lady Holding Lotus painted in the Dunhuang style and done in 1954 when Zhang Daqian was residing in São Paulo, Brazil. The artist had spend two years of reclusive artistic cultivation in Dunhuang when he was thirty one, learning from and copying murals at the Dunhuang caves. During the early 1960s to 1980s he perfected his skill in the splash-ink method, further establishing this innovative style of Chinese landscape painting.